Archive for September, 2010

About a year ago, I have started reading positive reviews about the New Zealand Anchor Butter. These reviews are way different from the bashings American butter gets in the press.

Apparently, it’s because Anchor Butter that comes from grass-fed, free-range cows is said to have a richer taste versus barn raised non grass fed animals. Besides that, the New Zealand government prohibits the use of animal growth hormones in dairy, sheep and beef farming. American cows on the other hand are fed with corn, and regularly are injected with growth hormones and other hormones to promote larger secretions of milk. And even when the cows eat organic food, apparently, the cows are eating organic corn, rather than going out into the pastures and chewing on fresh grass.

And the taste? The Anchor Butter has a richer yellow color, and critics have raved about the superior flavor as well.

Here’s another review of the butter below. I have copied paste the entire review and added the link to the blog. The reason I’m doing this because I have, in the past, lost a few links as some articles on the web went missing for some reason or the other.  The Delicious Truth blog has other very informative stuff about health.

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Sunday, July 13, 2008

Grass-Fed Cows = Real Butter = Anchor Butter

A specific example of a grass-fed product that I use during in-home cooking lessons in New York and in my own kitchen is Anchor Butter.

Anchor is made in New Zealand, where cows are grass-fed and law prohibits the use of hormones in dairy, sheep and beef farming.

When I hold Anchor Butter next to a stick of commercial butter for my students, they are amazed at the difference in color. Anchor is yellow (because of the grass the cows are eating), compared to the white butter derived from the milk of corn-fed cows. Even organic butters shade toward white since the cows are still eating corn (albeit without pesticides).

The myth (yes, MYTH) which states that butter is bad for you is based on unsound assumptions and studies, the same ones that classify all fatty foods as dangerous. (Gary Taubes, in his book, “Good Calories, Bad Calories,” does a masterful job of showing how many supposed nutritional and dietary truths are merely unproven statements that have morphed into accepted gospel.)

A story-starved media and clever marketers have so inculcated us with these myths that we have blindly accepted the false preaching and are left eating incomplete, flavorless and nutritionally-unsound foods like egg white omelets, lite mayonnaise and skinless chicken breasts. Whoever your god is, don’t you think it would have made eggs without the yolks if we were supposed to eat egg white omelets? The egg–with the yolk–is as close to the perfect, most complete food that exists.

Back to Anchor Butter. Yes, butter is terrible for you . . . if you are eating butter made from milk from cows eating a corn-based diet and shot up with hormones and antibiotics. If you are eating butter from grass-fed cows, you are providing yourself with a wealth of vitamins (especially A), minerals (selenium, an antioxidant), healthy fatty acids (CLA and omega-3’s) and cholesterol (essential for the composition of our cell membranes).

Did I mention how much better Anchor tastes than conventional butters? The flavor is much deeper and the texture is much creamier.

Anchor butter is available at the Fairway stores in New York. Other butters made in Europe–where cows grazing on grass is the norm–include President, Kerrygold, and Lescure. These can be found in progressive food stores and local supermarkets.

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Chow Yun-fat to donate 99% of his fortune

replacement_killers_poster

I just heard that actor Chow Yun-fat has pledged to donate 99 per cent of his wealth for charity when he dies. “I’m not taking anything with me (when I die),” he said.

Although the international star has made a fortune, Chow is said to live a normal life and he is noted to take public transport. The 55-year-old is estimated to be worth some USD120 million.

“This is not my money, I just earned them but this doesn’t mean it will be forever mine.” It is learnt Chow has come to an agreement with his Singaporean wife Jasmine Tan to donate his wealth.

Chow, a Hong Kong actor who started his acting career at TVB, became a household name for his role as Hui Man-keung in the drama The Bund in 1980. His career shot to a higher level when he acted in John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow series, The Killer, Prison on Fire series and Hard-Boiled. He moved to Hollywood in the 1990s, and acted in The Replacement Killers, The Corruptor and Anna and The King but failed to move to superstardom in the West.

Chow then returned to the east and accepted the role of Li Mu-Bai in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film swept numerous awards in the international arena including the Oscars and he finally became a global star. The star has received 13 best actor and two best supporting actor nominations, and successfully walked away with two Best Actor awards for City on Fire and All About Ah-Long.

Source: Agencies Published Sept 14 2010

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Chinese student crosses river on paper kayak

wang luyao paper boat

A Chinese student rowed across the Hanjiang river in China and safely reached the opposite side of the river on a paper kayak.

Wang Luyao, a third-year student of Wuhan Commercial Service College, spent seven minutes rowing across the river at the Yangheshan stretch.

He had spent 15 days to make the kayak using recycled papers and self-made flour glue.

Wang said the 1.9m x 80cm x 30cm kayak, which weighed 40kg, only cost him 200 yuan (RM92).

At 10.26am on Sunday, Wang got into the water in his paper kayak wearing a life jacket and holding an oar in his hand.

Two rescue boats followed behind him.

Wang managed to balance his kayak while fighting the rapid currents and a whirlpool to reach the other side of the river, one km downstream from where he started.

wang luyao paper boat 2

Wang said the idea of crossing the river on a paper kayak popped into his head after several rounds of discussion with water sports trainer Song Yuanqing.

“I hoped to use this chance to promote the low-carbon lifestyle and to encourage environment-friendly activities.”

Wang said he started making the boat in July, after two months of studying the theory of making kayaks.

He then went around the school to collect the components.

“I tested the boat on the school pond first,” he added.

Wang said his hopes to cross the mighty Yangtze River by the end of this year.

He added that he would modify the kayak for the crossing on the third longest river in the world.

“If I succeed, my next mission will be to cross the Taiwan Straits (which is 180km-wide between China and Taiwan) with Song.”

Source: Chutian Metro Daily, China

Published Sept 14 2010

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